Jay Paterno (‘91) and Anthony Lubrano (‘82) have both been elected alumni trustees on Penn State’s board, and Penn State women’s soccer legend Ali Krieger (‘07) has been elected as well as of Friday, May 5.
Krieger received the most votes with 12,141. Paterno received 11,745 and Lubrano 10,281.
The other board candidates were Kevin Carey, Randy Houston, Melinda Kuritzky, Uma Moriarity and Alice Pope.
Paterno and Lubrano are both emphasizing affordability, and Paterno hopes to improve Penn State’s athletic facilities.
Paterno claims his platform doesn’t focus heavily on his father’s legacy, and rather wants a world where Penn State students and shareholders have a passion for the school.
“We believe Penn State is a home where everyone belongs,” Paterno’s position statement reads. “We believe free speech and academic freedom foster greater learning and a united community.”
Last year, Jay Paterno was the executive producer for “Thon: 50 years for the kids,” documenting Penn State’s legendary annual event.
Paterno is a polarizing figure among Penn State football fans and even Penn State people in general.
The son of the legendary Joe Paterno, Jay was a backup quarterback for Penn State in the late 80s before getting into coaching.
His coaching career started at the University of Virginia in 1989. He joined his father’s staff in 1995 and stayed there through his dad’s dismissal in 2011 in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal. Jay Paterno is best known for being Penn State’s quarterbacks coach.
Paterno received criticism as a coach for things such as five-star recruit Anthony Morelli (2004-07) not living up to expectations, and also wasn’t beloved by all Penn State players that played during that era.
In John W. Bacon’s book “Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football,” which detailed a season with four Big Ten programs: Ohio State, Northwestern, Michigan and Penn State, former linebacker Michael Mauti had this, among other things, to say about Paterno.
”That dude was an example of everything a coach should not be.”
More than 10 years after Mauti’s last Penn State game, he blasted Paterno on social media in response to Paterno’s defense on Penn State NIL collective Success With Honor’s efforts to keep Micah Shrewsberry as the men’s basketball coach before Shrewsberry left for Notre Dame.
Lubrano, who has been a trustee for nine of the past 11 years, is a supporter of Joe Paterno’s legacy and believes Penn State didn’t handle the Sandusky scandal the way it should have.
In his position statement, Lubrano openly says that the reason he first ran for the board in 2012 was because he was “outraged by the firing of Joe Paterno.”
”At the time, though, I should have been equally outraged over the Board’s handling of the employment of (former president) Graham Spainer, (former athletic director) Tim Curley and (former senior Vice President) Gary Schultz,” the statement reads. The leadership demonstrated by these four men throughout more than 125 years of their combined service to Penn State was nothing short of visionary. Time has shown they were unfairly vilified.”
Lubrano ended his position statement by promising to be “truthful, collaborative, and do right by those who helped Penn State ascend to the academic and athletic prominence we all enjoy today.”
Lubrano played baseball at Penn State, and his efforts led to the construction of Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, the school’s baseball stadium that opened in June 2006.
Lubrano also promotes affordability and wants all Penn Staters to have an accessible education.
Lubrano and fellow candidate Pope received backlash month after an image of former QB Trace McSorley wearing a campaign button supporting those two candidates went up on Lubrno’s campaign Facebook page. McSorley publicly condemed the post, saying that it went up without his permission.
Krieger is best known to Penn State fans for what she did as a soccer player at the University. Krieger helped Penn State to four straight Big Ten championships and was an All-American at two position. She’s had greater success after her college career, helping team USA to two World Cup wins in 2015 and ‘19. Krieger is still an active player in the NWSL and is in the midst of her last season, announcing her retirement this past March.
As a trustee, Krieger will emphasize fair opportunities for the LGBTQ+ and reasonable working conditions for the Penn State student body.
These three will start their three-year terms on the board July 1.
